Tag Archives: gay conversion therapy bills

Butters Scotch said he was “bi-curious” and sent away to gay camp to change his sexual confusion in a episode of “South Park.” (Photo courtesy of Comedy Central.)

By The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Two federal judges in California have arrived at opposite conclusions on whether the state’s first-of-its-kind law prohibiting licensed psychotherapists from using conversion therapy on gay minors violates the Constitution. The measure remains clear to take effect on Jan.1.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller on Tuesday refused to block the law after concluding that opponents who sued in her Sacramento court to overturn it were unlikely to prove the ban on “conversion” therapy unfairly tramples on their civil rights.

The injunction was filed by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and the American Association of Christian Counselors, as well as unnamed individuals who sued shortly after the law was signed.

“The court finds there is no fundamental or privacy right to choose a specific mental health treatment the state has reasonably deemed harmful to minors,” Mueller wrote in a 44-page decision.

The opponents argued the law would make them liable for discipline if they merely recommended the therapy to patients or discuss it with them. Mueller said they didn’t demonstrate that they were likely to win, so she wouldn’t block the law.